Internet jurisdiction and data protection law

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The Internet is bedeviled by the lack of clarity of rules for determining jurisdiction over online activities, which create significant uncertainties for citizens, companies, and regulators alike.

Privacy and data protection law offer the perfect paradigm for considering jurisdictional issues online, since data protection law covers the processing of personal data, which is the lifeblood of the Internet.

As the example of European data protection law illustrates, the rules can have unanticipated, and sometimes inappropriate, consequences in relation to activities such as social networking, cloud computing, and even simple web browsing and Internet search.

Clarifying questions of jurisdiction under data protection law can provide crucial insights into the issues of jurisdiction on the Internet in general.